Plan to Succeed

Ideas for businesses are always plentiful but some of the most creative ideas can end up in failure as a result of failing to take time to do one simple part of the process; creating a plan!

Having a great idea for a business or knowing what you want to achieve in your career is great but you need to carefully build the ladder that will get you to the top. Not taking time to construct how you will go about executing your ideas could hinder your flight to success.

If you are looking to start a business, taking the necessary time to plan is crucial for success. Researching the industry takes time but will allow you to understand your competition, how to create your market niche and develop the types of products you want to sell. This also will help you define who your target audience is and can help you set the stages for creating a successful marketing plan to reach these people.

Though it can be expensive at times, creating a marketing strategy as part of your business plan will be crucial to your success. If people don't know about the product you are selling, how are they supposed to purchase it? How are you going to alert your target audience your product fills their needs? How will you create a brand name that will resonate with potential customers? These are all questions you need to ask when developing your business plan.

Planning for success can often be seen when expansion teams enter professional sports leagues. Owners for these teams have to plan how to build a team that will be competitive in the league they are playing in, how to reach the target audience, and drive fans into their stadiums or arenas. These teams need to plan how to build a team from scratch to winner in a few seasons, develop a brand name through creative marketing strategies and develop a loyal and consistent fan base. The team will need to win on the court, field, ice (if you are playing hockey), create a name that is easily remembered and develop a fan base to be successful.

While starting up a business requires planning, developing your career and where you want to go takes planning as well. Taking the necessary steps to plot where you want to go in your professional career and how to get there takes dedication and time but can pay off. Do you want to eventually reach a management position? What will it take for you to earn a promotion? What can you do to become one of the best workers in your company? These are all questions people ask themselves and the answers can help pave the way for a plan to help them reach their goals.

An example that can used to explain comes from watching one of my heroes, former Orioles third baseman Cal Ripken Jr., during and after his career as a professional baseball player. After being drafted out of high school, Ripken wanted to make the Orioles roster and created a plan to help get him there. He created offseason training plans to help hone his skills, he played winter ball to get him more experience playing professionally and solicited the advice from veteran players who had been in his shoes before. As a result, Ripken was able to hone his skills and had a career in which he broke Lou Gehrig's record for most consecutive games played, made the All-Star team 19 times, won a World Series, and made it into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot. Ripken's plan for his career worked and paved the way to success.

During his playing days, Ripken knew he wasn't going to play forever but planned for his life beyond baseball. He started to develop Ripken Baseball Inc. which is a program designed to help grow the love of baseball to others and has created other charitable foundations. Ripken listened to others along the way during his playing career and helped set many of these foundations in motion while serving as an active player. By the time he had retired, Ripken's plan started to take shape and he successfully created a life for himself outside of baseball.

Taking the time to plan is crucial and even though it can be exhausting, it can pay off in the end. In order to get to where you want to go, you need to know what you need, what will get you there and the right direction to go in.